


condemnation

by MissRaichyl



Series: Lovely [4]
Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Acceptance, Adventure, Comfort, F/M, Hurt, Inspired by A Christmas Carol, Past, Repentance, Romance, Saving, fruture, present, remembering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-23 20:19:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7478562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissRaichyl/pseuds/MissRaichyl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Who I am, how old I am, what I am is none of your concern." She stands, oddly graceful and holds out her hand to him. "I want to take you somewhere, Niklaus." She tilts her head, her hand stretched out, he backed away from her. He should kill her. Rip out her throat and be done with it. "Will you come with?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. ghost of past

"Klaus." Shake.

"Klaus." Shove.

"KLAUS!" Slam.

His eyes open to a dull thud in the skull and a blurry image of a little girl with blonde ringlets standing over him. "Good. You're up." She smirks a satisfactory smirk as she looked down her nose at me. "Let's go." And she turns and walks away. His hand came up to his forehead. _What the hell? How did a damn 7 year old get into his room- let alone his house?_ Sitting up and reaching for the nearest pair of pants, he stood and slipped them on before going after the little brat.

She stands at the base of the stairs, watching him with her wide green eyes. "Do you know who I am?" He asks her with a threatening tone. She laughs a jingle in the air.

"I think the appropriate question is, Niklaus, if you know who I am." She laughs again before walking away. Klaus snarls in her direction before following her into the kitchen. He notes her appearance, he'll use it to track her down when she runs. Her hair is blonde, wearing a gold dress and a green bow in her hair. "Are we playing follow the leader?" She giggles again, running from him and into the living room.

If this is a dream, he wants to wake up now. He follows her, grabbing a shirt from the laundry room on his way- he might be a monster, but he was never improper. "What are you? 10?" He smirks as she sits on the couch, leaning into the cushions.

She stares at him with eyes as wide and vulnerable as a doe. "Who I am, how old I am, what I am, is none of your concern." She stands, oddly graceful and holds out her hand to him. It strikes him that she isn't looking like a 10-year-old anymore but something dangerous. "I want to take you somewhere, Niklaus." She tilts her head, her hand stretched out, he backed away from her. He should kill her. Rip out her throat and be done with it. "Will you come with me?"

"There is nothing stopping me from ripping out your heart and feeding on you right now, little girl." She laughs; a trilling bell is what it sounds like. Magical, almost.

"Curiousness and your conscience can stop you."

"I've killed younger, sweetheart."

"Not since you met Caroline Forbes." She wiggled her fingers. "Come." He looked around himself. _What the hell?_

As he held his breath, he allowed her to grab his hand. In seconds, their world is spinning. She laughs and jumps up and down. "This is my favorite part but I need know where it stops!" She watches with hungry eyes. Watching and waiting in a giddy manner.

Klaus watches her world, images that spin at break-neck speed. He saw barely a glance before the next one took over. He has no clue how she is keeping up with it all.

Everything stops and he is left looking at a fond memory and then he is in the memory, playing it out sitting next to his older brother.

_He looks over Elijah, smiling next to him, sitting in the grass. There were wooden swords at their feet. He was still catching his breath from running from their father. "When I'm older, I going to set sail on a ship and fight the dangers at every corner of the world." Klaus tells Elijah, with a smile on his face, imagining the open sea welcoming him._

_Klaus looks at him, his eyes wide with an innocence that he had lost long ago. "You will join me, brother, will you not?" He holds out his hand to him, begging with his eyes for him to take it._

_"_ _I will." He grabs onto Klaus's outstretched hand. They share a smile before laughing in the green grass of his old, old home from over 1,000 years ago._

He's back in his body again, his eyes searching for a moment before finding the child. "What the hell was that?" He snarls to the girl as the world races again. He didn't know what that was- if this was from the magic of a witch, he would snap her neck. He glares down at the girl.

"As far I know, it was one on your memories." She shrugs. "Are you and your brother still that close?" She cocks her head over and stares at him and something tells him that she already knows the answer to that question. He has to restrain himself from strangling her. The world stops again.

_"If you can beat me, Niklaus, I will give you my last piece of honey chew." Elijah gambles, swinging his sword in a pompous fashion._

_Klaus waves his sword around, opposite of his brother. "I'd watch what you wager, brother. Things can have a way of disappearing."_

_A laugh admits on them both as they charge each other; the clang of metal fills the air._

He's back again, his head spinning. He's starting to wish he killed her when she first appeared. "I like your brother." The little girl says as she sits down to watch. Klaus folds his hands behind his back and watches as he and his elder brother smash each other down. He knew the outcome: Elijah won and he won the next and the next and kept winning until Klaus hit his growth spurt and they moved to America. It was his 17th birthday when he beat his brother and won the attention of a village girl by the name of Tatia. But so had his brother.

"You lost." He looks down at the little girl, seeing her frown. "That's sad." She stands and he seriously wonders why he has not torn her throat out yet. As he looks at her, the world spinning, he notices she has grown in their time. She looks 12 now; also she is no longer in the gold dress, but in jeans and a t-shirt. She reminds him of something- someone. Time stops.

_"You little brat!"_

_He hears the voice of his sister and Finn going at it. Klaus stands at the door, watching them with Elijah at his back. Bekah's voice pierces the air as she_ _calls back, "a_ _t least I'm not a prat!" She throws a goblet at Finn, who narrowly avoids a bump to the head._

_"Kids, stop it right now!" Their mother walks in, stooping to pick up the cracked goblet. She gives Finn a look, "You know better, Finn." He looks down, shamed._

He is starting to gain a headache from the in and outs of the memory journey. "Served him right." Klaus says.

The pre-teen mystery looked up at him. "Why?"

"Keep watching."

_Elijah and Niklaus walk in to the fight happening around their hearth, Tatia following behind, laughing at the brother's poor attempt to wrestle, not yet catching on to the seriousness of the household. "You two should stick to swords- I fear we'll need a doctor if you two intend to keep that up."_

_They ignored their friend in favor of finding out what was happening, "what's going on?" Elijah asks as Tatia and Niklaus go to stand by a seething Rebekah. "Mother?" Elijah turns to her._

_"Nothing, Elijah. Finn and Rebekah had a misunderstanding." She steps back, putting the cup on the table and turns to the boys. "Do you have any idea where Henrick is? I worry."_

_Tatia laughs and rushes to Ester's side. "This way. I fear the young one has given my friends some attention he didn't warrant." They share a laugh as they walk out, leaving the siblings to figure out the rest._

_"Bekah, are you alright?" Niklaus asks, his hand on her shoulder._

_Finn scoffs, "Oh, yes! Take her side before you know a thing." Niklaus glares at his older brother. "My wife's necklace is missing and I know Bekah took it."_

_Elijah sighed from the other side of the room. "No, she didn't." They all look toward him. "Henrick did." He grabs Henricks bag and loops a chain around his hand, "don't trust something so blindly brother. It will be your downfall."_

His words blurred together as the world around us started moving again. He had loved it that pompous Finn had been shown up by Elijah. It was fantastic. The world claims his attention, his memories of his past smiling around him again, he stares toward the blood child, who once more has grown. "What are you doing this for?" He asks; the girl was gaining height and now was in shorts and a tank top, her blond hair hanging down to her waist almost. "I'm showing you your past so you can correct you mistakes, Niklaus." She tells him in a straightforward manner.

It was refreshing from the mumble-jumble the witches give. He gives her a look. "Are you seriously taking me through this like a damn Christmas carol, you little brat." She gives him his look right back.

"Big bad Klaus. Always threatening, spending eternity alone." She taunts. "We're giving you a chance to correct you mistakes! To earn back your family and maybe get the girl in the end." She snaps. He glares at the teenager, who is seriously getting really familiar.

"After 1000 years of being the bad guy, what makes you think anyone will trust that I have changed?" He says, his voice taking on a menacing tone.

"I guess that's what forever is for." She snaps and the world stops around them. She settles with her arms folded against her chest. "Where are we?"

"Greece, a little after the 18th century." He answers, watching the people moved around them, passing straight through them.

_"There's a rumor going around that the gods have returned." Elijah and Niklaus walk through the plaza, the place was busy._

_Klaus strokes his chin, rubbing the scruff that had grown in the last fortnight. "Which of our siblings has gotten out of hand?" He asks, nodding to the venders as they pass._

_"Actually brother, girls have seen you and claimed it was Ares in the flesh." Niklaus looks at his brother with eyes full of mischief._

"Wait." He turns to the growing girl, "the girls in Greece actually thought you were Ares." He nods, "the god of war?"

"Yes, god of war and destruction." He agrees, taking joy in her impressed eyes. She waves her hand the world flashes.

"That memory was doing too much for your ego." She stops the spinning in London, late 19th century.

"You're skipping a lot of stuff."

She looks at him, her eyes casting a strange light. "We're running out of time," she looks up around them, and then back at him, her eyes had turned lighter. Greener, wiser. Her hair had shortened and her face had filled out but a blur was around her, he couldn't quite discern who she was. A voice sounded around him and suddenly he wasn't in the room with the girl but in their family house at night, talking to Elijah. 

_"Brother, you must listen!" Elijah looks at him, his hands planted on the chair, staring him down, with a newspaper on the table separating them. Klaus turns to him, giving him his annoyed attention. "Something must be done!" He points toward the news onto the table._

_"What do you mean, Elijah?" Klaus said, his interest waning._

_"Kol must be dealt with." Elijah commands. "This Jack the Ripper nonsense has gone on long enough, Nik, and you know it."_

_Klaus waves his brother off, "That stunt was done by a surgeon, Elijah."_

_"Do you not recall Kol's stunt as a medical prodigy in Greece?" He asks his brother, tying the strings together for him._

_Klaus slams a book into it place. "What would you have me do? Dagger him? I thought you would be against that! After I did it to inn, you swore if I did it agin you would cease all communication! You think Kol is going mad, then you stop him, Brother!" Klaus releases a strangled yell._

_"Niklaus, we are getting dangerously close to being found by authorities. If i knew how to stop him I would but-"_

_"What would you have me do, Elijah?"_

_"Just put a stop to it." Elijah says, leaving the room._

His head turns over itself as he finds himself back in the room with pre-teen mystery, her voice entering into his head. "So you did it? You daggered him?" She asks him, her eyes horrified.

"Not at first." Klaus tries to explain. "But then he did it again and the rumors got worse. People started whispering about vampires being the killer. Most likely circulated by Kol himself," He chuckles to himself, "so yes, I did what had to be done."

"Who gave you that choice?" She asks haughtily, he glares down at her.

"Who are you to look down on my past?" His words are lost in the speed of which they were spinning, he yells louder again before everything stops.

_"You can't do this!" Bekah yells at him, her blond hair falling around her. Her white shirt messy from rushing around the house after him. "I'm not a toy, you pretentious dick!"_

_"You forget who you talk to, sister." He glares at her from the hallway._

_"I'm your family." She yells, "or do you forget it was me all those years to stand by your every decision, you ungrateful prick!" She basically screams, tears cradling in her eyes before spilling down her face. His hand is around her neck in a second, her back slams against the against the wall._

_"Take care with your words, Bekah." His voice low and lethal. Rebekah's eyes show fear before gaining back her usual bravado._

_"Or what?" Her voice strong even with the constricting hand around her neck. "You'll dagger me?" His hand lets her go and she drops to her feet._

_"Not because I want to," He reluctantly admits, "but because you give me no other choice." He turns from her and resumes what he was doing before, as behind him, Rebekah turns and leaves._

"Heartless," the girl in transition says, almost a whole foot taller.

"I love my sister," Klaus's voice is low. "She was always there. Her and Elijah."

"You have a funny way of showing it."

"It won't be funny when I reach into your chest and tear out your heart." He steps up to her and she daringly meets his stance. They glare at each other through the blur surrounding her, to keep her identity hidden, he knows and the world around them settles down again and she is replaced by a scene of him drowning Carol Lockwood in a fountain.

"Why did you kill her?" She asks, her voice sounding from behind him as he sees his self kill Carol Lockwood. "What did she do to you, Niklaus?"

He shrugs, "She was a chess piece." He walks away. "Her son hurt me. Only fair that I hurt him."

"Do regret it?" Her voice is faint.

"No." He finally turns to her again, with hard eyes, only to be met with gray eyes, full of hatred, full of pity, her blond hair pulled back.

"You will when I'm done with you."


	2. ghost of present

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the hate on Elena, if you want to call it that. I'm a Stelena fan and I respect those of you that are Delena fans, so please take no offense.

Her words echo in his ears, how she'll make him sorry. Her voice was so familiar. His heart begins to beat hard against his chest, his brain catching up with his blood. "Caroline?" He whispers, his eyes wide and wondering. He looks at the blur and it slowly ebbs away. "What the bloody hell?" Her blond hair shortens and her clothes change into a purple dress hidden by a jean jacket, her boots black and leather. A necklace with a key hangs down to her rib cage. He can't take his eyes away from her, from this girl who unknowingly stole his heart and makes him want to say strange, cheesy lines and capture her attention.

"You just have to be a bad guy, huh?" She asks him, hands on her hips, "Can't let anyone else steal the thunder, right, Alpha Klaus?" She berates him, moving in for the kill. "You have put me and my friends through enough!" Their surroundings change and they're in the town square of Mystics Falls. "The strange thing is half the time you're around, you doing your screwy best to help us." She comes straight up to him, a little lacking in height but intimidating enough to remind him why he fell for her. "And then you go and pull your hissy-fit bullshit."

"You're wrong, Love." He rolls his neck, trying to shake the headache tiny Caroline had given him. "I don't care about helping out your friends. I just make sure you're safe at the end of the day and if you aren't, I take action." He looks over at her, watching her watch him, "I've done more than enough. I've shown kindness, forgiveness, pity...because of you, Caroline." His eyes bore into hers and she just glares back. "I don't feel like I need to change anymore than that."

"You know his mom won't come back. She's not one of us." She looks across the room; they were now in the Lockwood Mansion. 

Tyler was sitting in a chair a glass of scotch in his hand. Haley is sitting across from him. 

He hears a low hiss from his companion. Looking at her now, he guesses that she is giving up this time to be his ghost. He decides to do some good old fashion pay back. "Where do you fit into this picture, Love?" His words have a bite to them, "or is this what happens when you're gone." He shows her the same pain that her words instilled in him. That jealousy and the fear of losing what you love.

She glances at him. "It was all a charade, you realize that, right? I was playing you the whole time." Her words are devalued because he just smirks, showing her no loss, and he replies with an equality smart comment.

"And yet Hayley is the one who is still here, sticking around him even though she betrayed him- you do know that she came to me, told me it all, and then sent me on my way." He rounds around her, turning the tables, coming so close to her to whisper the last piece in her ear. "If you're not careful, Love, I would think you're being replaced."

She turns on her heel, pushing him far back, hard. He flies through the doors, smashing them opened in the memory land, the two in the room don't even turn towards them. He groans with a laugh as he opens his eyes to see a bright sun and looking a bit down he sees a frustrated Caroline. "You make it so people hate you!" She thunders at him. "I'm trying to help you, you ass!" He gets up with his fast speed, coming to stand in front of her in seconds, making her back up.

"Who says I want to change? That I want some witches help?" He gives her a once over, matching the likeness. "Who are you, really?" He commands her to say, not through the compulsion, just an interrogative statement. The Caroline he knows is one hundred percent vampire, no trace of witches magic inside of her. 

"It doesn't matter." She crosses her arms, blocking him out. "What matters is giving you a conscience which you severely lack." Her eyes rake over him, disgust lacing into her stance.

He looks around and suddenly there is Stefan sitting in Caroline's living room, lying out on the couch. The spinning scenes didn't happen as they did before, they were just . . . there. Klaus hears sounds from the hall and walks to see Bonnie in the kitchen, grabbing two cups of coffee, he would guess. He follows her as she makes her way to Stefan, careful to not spill the drinks. He passes Caroline, who lies against a door jamb that leads to the living room.

Her eyes are closed as if she would rather be anywhere but her. He can't figure this girl out. She's so strong willed that she can accomplish whatever she wants to but keeps her cards so close to her heart that only few know what is actually going on with her. He doesn't get why she would choose to come help him when her precious Tyler is going through such a devastating loss.

"Is there any change?" Stefan asks, taking the mug extend from her outstretched hand. He looks back to the strange duo and Bonnie shakes her head, "Where do you think she is? What was she trying to do?" He asks, not so much to Bonnie, but just to ask.

Bonnie twirls her cup in her hands, "I wish I knew." She takes a sip, pulling her legs into the chair, "All she told me was that she had to fix something." She shrugs as she takes another drink. "She said that she couldn't feel something that wasn't justified or something about feelings?" Stefan gave her an odd look and Bonnie gave him one back. "She was talking a mile a minute, Stefan. You try to understand her when she goes on and on and you'll do what she wants just to make her quiet." Stefan and Klaus both chuckle at that and Klaus gives a side look at Caroline who is glaring at Bonnie and trying her damnedest not to smile.

Bonnie shrugs, breathing in the comforting smell of the drink. Klaus turns to Caroline, who is standing by him and he looks at her, really looks, and all she can do is watch him with greedy eyes. Her clothes are darker, her eyes look older already. "Why?" He asks a simple word as he realizes that the troubled girl standing in front of him is indeed Caroline. She looks at him and decides that explanation he asks for is such a heavy weight, so much she doesn't even want to admit it. So, instead she waves her hand and Stefan and Bonnie are left behind . . .

. . . and then they're with Elena.

"Oh, no, please." He whines, actually whines. "Caroline, please. The last thing I need on this witchy acid trip is to hear about poor, little Elena's latest heart woes." Caroline snorted behind him, trying to conceal a laugh.

"For being your hybrid blood bag, you don't really seem to care about her all that much." She smirks at him and waits for a justifying reply.

He disappoints. "That's all she really is, Love. Just a blood bag." He winks at her, "plus, you are much more fun." He continues to advance on Elena, crouching down infant of her, ignoring Caroline and her blushing face for a few minutes to observe Tatia's replacement.

Elena sits on her window bench, staring out the window, probably wondering where one of her suitors are. "It's so interesting, you know? Tata was grace and smiles, torn between me and Elijah, only to be killed to turn us. Katherine was grace and wickedness, wanting Stefan and only attracting Damon, and Elena here holds no interest at all. She's boring, the linchpin in all of this. Torn between two brothers when everyone knows who she should be with." He speaks with his voice no high than a whisper. He looks at her for a moment longer and then he stands up, straightening out his shirt, which he now realizes was one of Kol's band shirts. Well, that's fantastic.

She looks at him with her head cocked, amused, as she watches him as he watches Elena. They hear steps and both turn as Elena's head whips toward the stairs.  _"_ Elena!" Jeremy stomping up the stairs, and comes into the room. 

"Obviously not who she was hoping for." Klaus murmurs under his breath as Elena's expression is void for a moment in disappointment. "Sis, breakfast is done." He holds himself on the frame and waits until she smiles.

"Okay," she nods, not leaving her spot. He watches her and she puts on a faint smile accompanied by a sigh, "Alright, lets eat." He smiles as she gets up to follow him.

They chit chat all the way down, and something occurs to Klaus after they leave the room, Klaus walks toward Elena's door before turning to Caroline with a giant smirk, pointing over his shoulder at the ones who had just left. "She doesn't know, does she?" She looks at him, her eyes conveying nothing. "She doesn't know anything." He laughs. "And let me guess: Tyler, Damon, Elena, Jeremy, Matt? They know nothing of the three musketeers little adventure into my head?"

He grins a dangerous smile at her, walking toward the blonde vampire. "Why is that, Caroline?" He's close enough for her to reach out and touch, but she crosses her arms instead, refusing to say anything. He chuckles again and leans close to her, talking into her ear. Her body is rigid and she stares straight ahead, not budging, even if she wants to escape to not tempt herself any further. "Why do you want to save me?"

She tries to subtly pull away and look at him straight on, "Has anyone ever told you that you're a close talker?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you avoid questions like they are the plague?" She huffs. "Is it because, after everything, you actually feel something for me, Caroline?" She can't believe they were discussing this . . . especially in Elena's room.

"Try to be serious." She replies obstinately, walking past him, ready to travel on. "I love Tyler." She looks over her shoulder at the hybrid who has taken over her head.

He comes closer to her, dancing around in a chase that won't end. "Then, not to be cliché, why be here to save me when your boyfriend is grieving over his mothers' death, who I killed." His smile is malicious and she walks past him again changing the scenery aback to the town square. People walk around them, ignoring them. His hand clasps around her forearm and he doesn't pull her any closer than they are and she doesn't pull away from him.

"Be serious, Caroline." Against her will, her lids become heavy and she wants to give in to the dark side of her she can't explain. She wants to give up this battle and just give in. "You can't save me." She doesn't have an answer and as she is focusing on the feel of his hand, clasping her arm, it's gone and she snaps out of whatever phase she was in.

Attempting to get her thoughts back, she stare around the square, not bothering to see where he went. "This is about you, Klaus, so stop trying to seduce me." Her hands cup her temples and he smirks to himself, holding in his smart remark. "Can we please continue?" She asks without asking.

Suddenly she presents a picture of togetherness by standing straight and flipping her curls over her shoulder and standing with one of her hands on her hip while the other hangs idly by. He looks over at her from the bench he had decide to occupy, realizing that her dress had turned black; her jacket was now bunched up leather. They had wasted too much time talking and she was almost in the next phase.

They were almost done and he still doesn't regret anything and now that is dawning on her. He shrugs, almost passive but only because his thoughts were occupied and he didn't really care where or what they did, otherwise he would have hounded her about it until they were finished.

They ended up flashing to his sister's, who was pacing back and forth in her living room; Rebekah's clothes had changed into jeans and a white tee shirt. "When did she get out?" He asks as his mind returns to this sort-of present. He looks past Rebekah and notices a black haired girl sitting on the couch, watching Rebekah with a devoted stare.

"April." Caroline states plainly. "She's Matt and Jeremy's girlfriend or whatever." He gives a side look to Caroline, her voice alerting him to a change. The usually upbeat and bubbly girl he had come to recognize was becoming dark, shielded. He's curious about it but had to shove it to the back of his mind. He had to focus on this because it was what Caroline asked of him. "This girl will be the death of us all! I mean seriously? The blood slut is back-"

"Caroline, you're beautiful. But if you don't stop talking, I will kill you." She shuts up at his lethal voice. He would do anything for her, but family comes first and they were not family, yet. They stand side by side as they watch the two different girls talk about the cabin fire. "This is troubling." He admits. His sister was almost as lethal as he was, except that she gave into love instead of holding it at arm's length that way no weakness could claim you and you could always stay on top. Caroline flips her hand . . .

. . . and they are back at Tyler's. Klaus turns to her, "I wasn't done there!" He roared and she just looks at him.

"We're running out if time." She turns her head and watches her boyfriend flip his phone in his hands, all alone. His eyes are red and his hair is mussed. "Shouldn't you be with him?" Klaus muses. Caroline looks at him; her usual bright eyes are dark and gloomy.

"I can't until I fix you." Her voice has little emotion and her hair has grown darker- she is literally the epitome of darkness- and he should know. "I have to fix you because I can't justify letting a monster who lashes out by giving death to those who's didn't do anything to deserve it into my heart." Her voice is empty, her eyes are sad and angry and mad and so many emotions he can't place. This is a Caroline he has never met because she isn't Caroline but the shell of her, containing all her memories and emotions, but never experiencing them.

"Why would you chose me when you have the love of your life in front of you, needing you?" He asks the new Caroline, wondering if she'll give up the answers he wants. She has nothing to lose.

"Because I know that you love me," she sets her dead eyes on him, "anyone capable of love can be saved and saving you means that I'm not a bad guy for loving you." Klaus wanted to respond to her but the world he was once in is suddenly covered in a dark smoke, different from the first time they went into the visions.

In the first trips, the worlds had been full of colors and full of life from young boys laughter and musings, the brightness of youth and innocence, of living and dreaming of living.

This world was a dark one; you could hear screams of pain and haunting nights of terror. The circles of this life felt dead and he knew it was his. Any images he saw were death and loss, loss and death.

If this was the future for him, it made sense, no matter how lonely. He was a monster- so why would his future be any different? He was destined to love and lose; it was how it had been from the beginning, from the very start. Is this what Caroline was trying to do? Make him realize that he was that? A monster. He already knew that; but why did all those screams and the desperate calls of escape and pleas of endless pain make him feel guilty? Why did it instill a pain he did not know, a pain similar to when he discovered that Tatia had been killed, that her blood was the one the Mikhael had claimed to have saved them. He looked over at Dark Caroline and she looked at him. Her eyes calculating him, seeing him in a different way- but this was a different Caroline.

He looks back to the spinning waves of turmoil, "Are you ready to see what your future holds?" and in that second he wasn't sure at all.


	3. ghost of future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so a little ooc in this one, but I tried my best!

_The smoke completely covers them, he can't even see his own limbs anymore. He falls to his knees, terror starting to take root in his brain. The other Caroline's, he had handled easily because they felt emotion for him, but this Caroline no longer cared, she was as devoid of emotion as he was when his family was fully daggered._

_The smoke begins to disappear and surrounding him are walls of his home in Mystic Falls. "You know nothing of pain, Niklaus." Her blond hair waves from her shoulders, her eyes seemed as black as coals and her handshakes as she extends it over him. "You know only how to inflict pain." Tears fall down her face, the power of expression flows through her as Bonnie stands behind her whispering the incantation, he doesn't even get the chance to wonder when she showed up as Klaus screams out in pain, falling against the wooden floor, grabbing his chest as the searing pain keeps getting worse as each excruciating minute passes._

_Stefan stands by watching to make sure no one interferes. "You do not see truly and you give us no other choice." She yells at him as he lies on the ground in pain, now clutching his head as the pain rivets throughout him as he falls, unable to move. She stands over him and a dissatisfied smirk spreads across her face. "You did this to yourself, Klaus. You did this because you can't stand not being at the top and it is your fault that we had to do this."_

Then all he knows is the dark smoke and he's no longer in that room, gripping his heart that's bursting in his chest. He looks up from the floor and speaks to Dark Caroline. "You can't actually expect me to believe that, sweetheart." He stands up, not letting her win this battle, this fight she started, he won't let her know that he was actually in fear for a second.

His arms fold over his chest and he looks over at her, who just looks at him. "That is only one of the outcomes. One of the many."

"That was what? The ninth one we've be to and you haven't changed me yet, Love." He knows that he is starting to fray underneath her pressure. He's been to nine different futures and the pain in starting to get him. He almost believed that one. He has seen himself imprisoned, desiccated, tortured, and cut up. It can wreck even the vilest of vampires.

She raises her eyebrows and turns back to the dark waves, the mist settling and disappearing all together. The getting from one place to another was easier and faster, they never settled for long and they didn't linger with conversations. It made him miss Caroline of the Present, with her snark and her confusing tendencies.

_The mist cleared and Klaus was rushing to lock himself in a dark room, sliding down the door and exhaling a breath of relief. His heart was beating fast. HE felt them, chasing him, going to him, hunting._

_He was across the room in seconds as fists met the other side of the door. the only thing that separated them and him. "You have pissed off many here." Dark Caroline explains. He can't see her, but he hears her voice narrating for him, explain the situation he is experiencing. "Behind that door are all of them: Kol, Elijah, Rebekah, Stefan, Bonnie, Matt, Jeremy, Elena, Damon, Me." As she uses a careful indifference, Klaus stares at the door, watching as the wood splinters; he fears for himself._

_The one who has ended up meeting his fate by locking himself in a room, haggard looking and actually, truthfully frightened. He looks everywhere around the room, no exit from the room that would very likely become a tomb of some sort. He had sealed himself into a room by concrete and hate._

_The door brakes open but only two people enter, Matt and Bonnie. He watches as they advanced before shutting his eyes close and screaming out._

"Enough!" he yells and his eyes open, staring down Dark Caroline, who stands not far from him in this cloudy smoke, looking at him. He turns on her, rushing at her. He feels her cool skin under his fingers as her holds her up by her neck, trying to push out the hideous scream of his future self. "That is enough." He hisses.

She gives him a questioning look but raises her hand and a dark mist settled around them and the noises faded away and he drops her, ignoring all of her pestering questions or at least trying to. "What changed?" She asked him. "What made you see enough?" He glares over at her as they stand encircled by the mist.

"Maybe I just don't get kicks out of watching you all kill me over and over." He smart mouths, making her glare at him. She waves her hand and he's looking at himself standing in an open area. He recognizes it as London, his old home.

_Then he is standing there, beside a bench, just looking out at the sky with the sun high up. He feels a pair of arms wrap around his waist and a kiss to his neck. He sighs in a comfortable feeling and then he's sleeping, his eyes barely open to see Caroline's blonde hair to his face, his arm wrapped around her waist. Then he's pulled out of it and standing with Dark Caroline looking on. His self is sound asleep and Caroline open her eyes and sits up, looking at Klaus, she allows a brief smile at him, her hand dances across his forehead to brush his hair down, before getting up and walking to the door._ _She throws on a coat over her plaid night pants and pink tank top and with a last look over her shoulder she slips out their bedroom door._

Klaus looks at Dark Caroline and she motions for him to watch. He sees Caroline walk down the cobblestone of the old village to an alley where Stefan waits and Damon lays against a wall. Elijah walks in behind Caroline, Elena rolling close behind him, holding onto his hand. "How is he?" Caroline shrugs, "He's adjusting." She gives a look to them all. "Being flesh and blood... Well, we all know it's a bit hard." 

The watching Klaus looks over to Dark Caroline, "wait," she looks at him, "I'm human?" She nods.

"They all are." She waves at them. "The search fro the cure tore us all in separate directions. Stefan went searching fro Elena who ended up choosing Damon and I ended up splitting with Tyler to help you, who joined the search with Stefan. Surprisingly Elijah found it first and delivered it to Elena and they partnered up to find unfortunates and give it to them, which led to her breaking up with Damon." She says, smiling faintly at this future and she waves her hand, bringing light back and he sees him and Caroline walking down the same road Caroline had last night, hand in hand.

"But even the best future has their own drawbacks." She sighs as she watches future them. "Enough." Dark Caroline says and the dark mist appears. She turns to Klaus, who is watching her as he had been before. "Your future has many outcomes, Niklaus, depending on every choice that you make." Caroline waves her hands and TV like screens appear in front of them, surrounding the two in a funnel of sorts, all playing a special channel. His future. "You have happy ones or sad ones. There's depressing ones that end with your head on a stake, or happy ones that still end with your head on a stake."

Her smirk goes devilish, "but you see, all these are here because you don't change."

He looks at her with defiance. "In the last one we were happy." He points out and she shakes her head. "You were hunting down a vampire to turn you back actually and had tried to kill yourself a total of 5 times and Tyler had sent wolves to kill you." She looks at him with pity, putting emphasis on the and's, trying not to show any returning emotion as the spell was wearing down.

"We've been here for 24 hours and our time is up." She says looking up, "but we have time for one more, just one." She waves her hand and a well appears in the middle of them, he looks at her and she looks at the well, walking to it and places her hand on the top of the water that ripples around her pale hand unnaturally.

"Before we do this," she takes her hand from the water and looks at him quizzically, "will you answer my questions, Caroline?"

"And you were so agreeable when you stop threatening me." He glares at her and she breathes out in annoyance. "What do you want to know?" She sits herself up on the well and looks at him with her piercing blue eyes. She knew she would probably regret this.

"What spell did you have Bonnie perform?"

"Interesting question." She admits. "It was a transformation spell. A Christmas special, if you will." She laughs softly at her own joke.

"Why you? Why did you come?" He prods and she looks down, "I came because, for some reason, I think you'll listen to me." She looks up at him, "Is that so crazy?" She messes with her thumbs, twiddling them as she awaits his answer.

He wonders where Dark Caroline was disappearing to. "Not crazy, Love. Why show me things from my past or what people are doing in the present?" He wonders aloud and she openly gawks at him.

"To make you grow a conscience, Klaus!" She hops down from her perch and changes completely. She's back to normal Caroline, wearing ripped jeans and white tee shirt with a forest green cardigan wrapping around her frame. She stands right up to him, so close to him, "to show you what you once were, to make you miss that innocence you had and how you threw it away for power and greed.

"To make you realize how many you have pushed away and what you can have again if you just allow yourself to open up to the possibilities." She thumps his chest where his heart would be, making every word seem musical. He moves away from her, away from the mysterious well.

"But whats the purpose of it? Why do you want to change me so bad?" He looks at her studiously and she bites her lip, "Come on, Caroline. What is so bad about the way I am that you need to change me to accept me? You want me to fight for the greater good? Have you seen how I truly grew up, abused by father for my mother's choice? Hunted by him for being a hated creation? I didn't become this way by choice! I became this way to survive!" He smirks at her, like the wolf he is and she sigh internally. "I like you much more than I care to admit- even to myself. I want to be the last love you have in this forsaken world, but all you want is a prince charming and I'm not him, Love, I'm just me."

"I can't be with someone who does what you're doing, no matter how much a part of me wants you. I had to do something because I care too much." She gives him a look. "Stefan and I realized that we have all done bad things. He was a ripper who has killed almost your total and he is only like 300 or something. Elena can't make up her mind and is hurting those around her non- stop. Damon- well, he's Damon. I have aided and abetted Katherine and I've used you countless times." His eyes darken at that. "The point I am trying to make is that we have all done something bad and we blame you for all of it when maybe we should blame ourselves, also." She shrugs, drawing shapes in the water. "And you aren't bad- your tantrums are a little bit big, I mean killing innocent people, that is bad, Klaus, and that's why I want to save you. I just want what I can't admit."

"Very profounding," she looks up at him, confused and he smiles his wolfish grin to himself, "you know, coming from the girl who ran out of words ending in -spire." He can't stop the laughter bubbling up and of his own accord as she understands his joke. She exclaims in protest and splashes some of the well water on him, making him laugh harder. She soon succumbs and adds her giggles to the fun, the darkness floating away from them. She splashes him again just for the hell of it and as he yelps in protest she smiles at him, it goes on for a few more minutes and the they sober up and start drifting back to the well. "Is there anything else?" She asks in general curiosity. Klaus shakes his head and he leans over as she lays her hand on the water, it ripples under her hand and the dark smoke comes up and encircles them. It rounds his feet, surrounding him, choking him.

The mood had gone dark and twisted. "If this is some sick, twisted joke, Caroline," he looks straight into her eyes. "I will kill you." She laughs and then she's gone, gone like the wind.

The smoke cages him and turns him around and he sees that she is far away from him. He struggles against the murderous smoke. "You can't do anything to me in here." She yells at him, almost like she was using the last of her abilities to show him that he can change. Which she probably was. "Don't you understand yet, Klaus? This is your future- whether I fall in love with you and stay by your side or if you push us all away and we hunt you down." She spreads her arms and another wave of smoke comes over them. He chokes and coughs, sputtering as she fumed for the future that hadn't even happened yet. "You'll drag us all down with you and end up all alone." She silences the smoke with her final rant and it all stops and he drops to the ground hard, gasping for breath.

Her soft footfalls carry her to him as she kneels down beside him, running her soft hand down his face, "you have to change, Klaus." She places her hand on his heart. "It's the only way to stop your death."

"This is very out of character for you, Love." He rasps.

Caroline laughs, with her small ethereal smile. "Trust me, the insecure, neurotic, control freak is rolling around inside somewhere." Her dark eyes close and she yawns. When she opens her eyes again, he sees that they are back to normal. She smiles sadly, "Times up." and just like that it's all gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i realized that I never really answer why she wants him to change so bad, and it's not because that's the only way she can be with him, but because if he doesn't, he will die and she doesn't want him to die because she has, at this point, fallen in love with him.


	4. finding klaus

When his eye's opened, he saw his older brother looking down at him, "Good, you're up." He exhales, sounding worried like always as Klaus props himself up on his elbows, Kol was leaning on the door.

"Hey! You're alive!" He laughs like it was some big joke. Klaus groans and throws himself back into his pillows. It was all in his head, all of it. He squeezes the bridge of his nose, exhaling his own breath as both his brothers file out of his room. He knew he would have to get up sooner or later to find out what has gone on in his . . . absence.

He ran his hand over his face and planted his legs over the side of the bed, leaning over as he realizes he was still in his boxers, which means that it did not happen in reality, so it could have been one whole big dream he made up. Well that was a relief.

He slips into a pair of jeans, throwing on a plain white v-neck over his chest. He stood up fully straight, rolled his neck, popping it twice and stretched his arms far over his head to pop joints back in their proper place. With that done he walked out of his room and took the stairs at a leisurely pace to where he heard his brothers conversing over the latest disaster in this god forsaken town.

"Hello brothers." He walks in as Elijah straightens up, going into big brother mode as Kol just bends over the bar- practically laying on it. "Let's have at! How long was I out?" Grabbing a bottle of blood from the fridge, he turned to them and saw looks of honest confusion. "What?" He pops the lid as Kol shoves him out of the way. Klaus naturally glares at him.

"You were out for about 7 or 8 hours." Kol shrugs as he gets himself some blood as well.

Klaus looks at both his brother, "Are you positive?" He questions as he takes a swig. Elijah nods and Klaus lets out a laugh. "Fantastic!" He walks out the kitchen as Elijah and Kol share a look and then look after her brother.

Klaus realizes then that it was all just a dream. A crazy, awkward dream- but a dream none the less, but that doesn't stop a nagging sensation in the back of his brain. He grabs his keys from the bowl by the door and walks out of the house, heading to find his sister. It was the only way to kill the lingering doubt in his head.

He climbs behind the steering wheel and heads over; the road was coarse and bumpy and getting there was a bitch. He pulls into the drive and the gravel dust waves itself around his car, making him cough as he walks up to the door, ready to knock as it prematurely flies open. He steps back, startled. "Niklaus." His Rebekah stands in the exact outfit that was in the dream and he is sure that if he was to look past her then he would see the black haired pest.

He lets out a strangled growl and turns, heading off the wooden steps to get back to his car and go see about something else. There was certain Barbie Vampire he needed to talk with. "Wait!" He hears his attention starved sister yell from her spot before hearing footsteps but he keeps walking. "Aren't you here to dagger me?" She races to get in front of him, demanding attention.

He places his hands upon her shoulders, "Bekah," he starts with and she gives him a look that was classic Bekah, "I love you dearly and I am trying to turn over a new leaf." He continues on placing his hands lower on her arms, "so please forgive me." He delivers with his classic smirk, as he lifts her up and puts her behind him, racing to his car and then 30 seconds later is off, leaving a disgruntled teenage vampire behind him. He looks in the rearview mirror, seeing that the road was clear behind him and in front; he places exceeded pressure on the gas to get away from Bekah's and on toward Caroline's.

He knew that whatever had happened last night, it couldn't have been real. No way, no how. No one cared that much to get him to change; no one- not even his own sister and certainly not Miss Mystic Falls, Caroline Forbes. So why was it that Rebekah was in the same outfit? It wasn't a vampire thing- he had had a thousand years to figure that out.

He pulls into her neighborhood and onto her street before he parks and sits in his idle car. If he goes and knocks on that door, it can lead to one of two things: the dream being real or it being a figment of his imagination. If it was the latter of the two, he would become the laughing stock of all these younglings. Wouldn't that be amazing. He rolls his eyes in the rearview mirror. Always a choice to be made, always people to be hurt or happy by decisions of one person. Tick tock, his clock ticks down. He makes his choice.

He turns the key in the ignition and presses his foot to the pedal and heads home. He has had enough of the small town with the small town girls who have small town brains in their small town lives. Enough.

He presses his foot down harder because he couldn't get across town fast enough. Not fast enough could he get through this horrid town to a suitcase of many and pack to leave. Go to Europe and tour the museums to find one of his Easter egg paintings or go to Greece to see the myth of him and his brothers when others less than brilliant thought them gods of the sky. It was always a choice and this choice, this one little choice, he didn't want to make, so the solution was simple. Don't.

* * *

Caroline springs up, jackknife straight in the bed, taking in a big breath that she had missed as she was . . . asleep was a good word. Asleep would do just fine for her because to admit that through a witch- namely her best friend- had killed her, a vampire, it was not acceptable and so she would say asleep forever if it meant not admitting that she had been dead for 9 hours that seemed like 24.

"Caroline!" Bonnie yelps outside her door, a shattered is heard in the living room, and Caroline can't stop herself from jumping startled at the noise. "You're back!" Bonnie races to her, jumping on her bed and grabbing her round the shoulders to pull her in for a long hug. Stefan gives a sigh of relief as he takes the spot Bonnie vacated seconds ago, Caroline wraps her in a hug, and gives Stefan a small, shaky smile.

"Did it work?" He asks the most important question to cross her mind now. She had no clue. What if it didn't? What if he was going to kill her friends and what if she couldn't stop the growing feelings for this man who seemed hell bent on dooming him and poisoning everyone around him? She gives him a sad, shaky smile that went with a shrug.

"I don't know."

* * *

"You have got to be kidding me!" Damon yells as Elena raises her hand to his shoulder, to comfort him, before looking across the room at Stefan, who wasn't even paying attention to them but to Elijah, who was watching Elena as her hand dropped and she back away.

They all stood in the Mikaelson home, standing in a messed up circle of connections. Kol, Elijah, Rebekah, Damon, Elena, Bonnie, Caroline, Stefan, Jeremy, and even Tyler- but no one knew where Klaus was. "Sorry to disappoint you, Damon." Elijah says sarcastically as he pours himself a whiskey with who knows how many years on it. "But contrary to all your personal beliefs, I do not always know where he is." He takes a drink and downs the contents in the glass. Damon lets out a yell and Elena jumps a little as he does.

Caroline steps up to Elijah, "Can I talk to you for a second?" She taps her ear almost absently and he understands her movements, taking her hand and whisking her out of earshot. They end up around the spot where a gazebo would go nicely, she thought to herself.

She turns to the older brother who, if she could, she would have chosen to fall for him instead. "I think I know where your brother went." She says in earnest. He gives her what is probably the most skeptical look on the planet.

"Where?"

She shakes her head, discounting his question with a wave of her hand. "What does it matter? I know and I need the money to get there." She tells him, trying to make him understand.

"Why on earth would he listen to you, Miss Forbes?"

"Because we all need someone to strive to be better for, Elijah. I can be that person for him if you give me the chance." He looks her up and down, taking in her answer and wondering if he can absolutely trust her with his brothers' well being. "Maybe you should get close to Elena. Teach her how to be better and make the right decisions." She quips, making him laugh as he brings a hand across his chin.

"I take it that you are not a fan of the elder Salvatore, then?"

"No."

He lets out a sigh, and reaches into his inner coat pocket, "Well then, Caroline Forbes," he opens his wallet and shifts through a number of bills, "hold out your hand, this should be enough." He places a big enough stack in her hand that her eyes widen. "There is enough there to go to a second place if your first instinct is false." He quips back at her, "Now, I would take the route through the trees if you want no hindrance on your quest to find my brother." He coughs on the hindrance word, and she knows he means her current boyfriend.

"I have to do this, Elijah. If not me, no one would." She tries to explain before gripping the bills tight in her hand and running like nothing could stop her- and it was true. Nothing could.


	5. finding klaus

Her first instinct had been Chicago because when Stefan had talked about it, he said that Klaus had said it was the best time of his life, so naturally she went there. But it had been two weeks now and nothing was turning up. There was only so much blood she could take with her and now she was running low. Caroline looked at the clock that told her it was 3:07 a.m. She groaned and got up. She was so confused- where else would he go? He mentioned something about the Andes but she didn’t think he would go out that far. Eh, she had nothing to lose at this point.

Caroline tied up her hair and began packing her things, everything she had could fit into a small white suitcase and on top of it all laid her smart phone that she wouldn’t turn on because she knew calls would be waiting for her and she didn't want them to use it as a way to track her down. She knew that this hunt was crazy. She was looking for the big bad wolf that had remained elusive for hundreds of years. She knew that if he didn't want to be found, he wasn't just going to turn up. She didn’t need to be told that which is why the only ones who knew where she was was Stefan and Elijah and they had the number to her burner phone which was in her back pocket.

Her back pocket chimed and she pulled it out.

 **Anything yet?**  It was Stefan. 

 **No! I need a new plan. He is not in Chicago!** She sent back in record time before tossing it onto her bed, needing to zip of the suitcase and return the key before heading to the airport to go the mountains and search there for him.

Her phone chimed again, but this time it was a phone call. She picked it up without look at the caller ID, and before she even managed a ‘hello’, a cranky vampire was giving her orders.

"Buy a one-way ticket to New Orleans." A British voice said.

"One way?" She asked

"Oh, I'm sorry- I thought you weren't returning until you found Niklaus?" She rolled her eyes at his theatrics. "Buy the ticket. He’s somewhere in the French Quarter. " The line clicked off and she sighed heavily. Moody, old, dead guy.

She leaned back on her legs and brought herself to her full height. Why would he go to New Orleans? She thought to herself while she picked up her luggage and shouldered her purse. Opening the room door, she walked out into the night and started walking.

* * *

She stood in the middle of an airport, not knowing where to go. Honestly, her head was still spinning. She had so many questions for Klaus, like how he could just vanish like that and why? She walks to the main area of the lowest level, taking the stairs in a rapid pace that she can only do away from prying eyes.

In line for the car service, she watches many people come and go, families are reunited and couples saying painful goodbyes. How awkward it will be to return with Klaus and then dealing with all the drama that ensues in Mystic Falls, that is if Klaus will return with her. She must be insane. She had a normal, healthy relationship with a great guy who did not deserve to be ditched by a girl trying to get with his mother’s murderer. She was stupid, insane, completely out of it.

Klaus was worse than Satan! He’s the devil incarnate! But she can’t stay away. She is Eve just waiting for him to give her the apple, which is why he must change his path! She just knows that if he can stop killing innocents and be on the good side again then they can be together. Sure, she’ll always have a sense of guilt on her shoulders but Klaus pulls her in ways she can’t understand, he calls to her and she want to let it all go and just be with him and she keeps stopping herself. She doesn’t know what will happen, but after ignoring the 18 missed calls and +100 texts messages that had been sounding her regular phone, she had to guess that by now it was obvious that Caroline had actual feelings for a man that had tried to kill her.

She looks around the airport again and sees a man with her name on it. She scratches her head as she picks up her suitcase, putting the wheels down as she walks over to him, vacating her spot in line. Was this Elijah? Only he and Stefan know where she was. It had to be one of them.

"Ms. Forbes?" He says in his special accent. She nods reluctantly. He easily plucks her suitcase from her hand and starts to walk away, leaving her to follow him.  _What the hell is going on?_ is one of the major thoughts going around and around in her head. They walk out the main doors into a humid air that makes her instantly dread for her hair. She stands on the sidewalk as he puts her bag and the sign in the trunk. “Umm, mister driver guy, who sent you?” She asks him and he looks up at her and smiles.

“I’m the Mikaelson’s personal driver.” He tells her and instantly she calms down. So it was Elijah, then.  

When he opens the door for her, she slides into the slick, black car with a small thank you smile.

They drive off and he follows the line of traffic and she looks at the Louisiana scenery. It seemed that every time she closed her eyes, she awoke in a new place. Maybe if she let her mind wonder and just dreamed, she would wake up in the place Klaus was, maybe he would finally come to her. She lets her eyes shut and falls asleep. . .

 . . . and wakes up in a bed- at night. Now, like any reasonable girl would do in this situation, she doesn't do.

She knocks back the sheets and frees her legs, letting her feet touch to the floor, which is hard wood. It's cold on her toes and she instantly pulls her legs back up, scrunching them into her chest. She tests it again, letting them acclimate before standing. She is still fully dressed in the clothes she entered in and her wondering eyes pickup on her suitcase next to the nearest window. She rushes over to it and unzips it, picking out some clothes and her toiletries. She spares a glance over her shoulder to check for danger in the room she is occupying and walks to the nearest door, only to find that it is a closet and not the way to the bathroom, which she is guessing is not in suite. She closes it and walks to the next one, a hallway.

She carefully shuts her room's door behind her and follows the hallway to the end, because bathrooms always seem to be at the end of the hallway, but this time another room greets her and it seems vacant. She sighs and swears under her breath. She turns to the right and finds herself looking at a painting that looks oddly familiar with the horses- she shakes it off, think the the sleep has made her foggy. She walks back down the hallway and picks from the last two doors at random. Spinning the knob, a bathroom lays out in front of her and she can’t help but take in a sigh of relief.

After a nice, cool shower, she braces herself by her hands on the counter top of the sink, looking in the mirror. 

 _Where am I?_ She finally lets herself think after the sweat and the grossness from the day were finally rinsed away. She knew there was no point in asking herself that while standing in a bathroom, the only way to find out was to go outside and venture around.

She trusted Elijah, who grudgingly found him first, even though she thought she could, but he gave her the chance to see him first- hopefully.

She zips up her toiletries bag after applying basic make- up, leaving her brush out and tosses the towels over the shower top. She unlocks and opens the door to a clear hall.

Caroline makes her way back to the room she had woken up in. It was still dark out, but not as dark. The sun was popping up over the horizon from the hallway window as she stands in her doorway. She pulls the brush through her hair as she turns and keeps going, only stopping to pull on a pair of flats. She steps back out into the hall and this time, she goes for the stairs.


	6. What Was Lost Has Now Been Found

She takes the stairs at Vampire speed and exits through the front door, pausing only briefly to grab her purse. Once outside, she looks back and realizes that the Mikaelson’s are very wealthy to afford a house like this. A two level house with a bunch of terraces. She pulls her hair tie off of her wrist and binds the still wet hair into a high ponytail with bangs swishing to the side. She tucks them behind her ear as her hand slips into her purse, pulling out the shiny, little phone. The blonde presses number 2 on speed dial and lifts it to her ear; in seconds the other line clicks on. "Alright, I'm here! What am I looking for?" She starts down a cobblestone street and passes many strange looking people in the process- _way_ different from her home place.

"I don't know exactly, Caroline. It's been quite a long time since I have been here." She caught that.

"Here?" She answers in puzzlement.

"Yes. I'm here as well." The young, blond vampire felt her mood darken. "I had met with Klaus a little while ago, but now he's gone- like smoke in the air." And the dark cloud descends, so she didn’t get to be the first to see him. She gets it- grumpy, old, dead guy gets to be the first.

"You found him?" She started in, "What? You couldn't trust me with this little piece of info?” The vampire yells into the phone, “If you found him so easily then why did you let me stay in Chicago for two weeks? Where are you?" She hisses.

"Calm down, Caroline." Caroline hears this in an echo and turns, facing the eldest Mikaelson with open fury.

Still holding the phone to her ear, she continues on her angry rant, "you want me calm? Don't _tell_ me to be calm." She uses a pointed finger to emphases her point and then turns around, hanging up the phone and stomps forward with an unladylike grace. He matches her stride for stride.

"Where are you going?" He catches her arm to bring her to a stop. "I brought you here because I lost him again." Caroline folds her arms across her chest in a defensive manor. "Look, Miss Forbes, I am truly sorry that I did not clue you in but there was some witch stuff going on and I felt that should be dealt with and did not want you included in it as it may jeopardize your mission to reform my troubled brother." The tall, age- old, brit looks at her in a way that calms her and she isn't sure if he is compelling her or not. "Now, will you please let me buy you breakfast and catch you up?" _How thoughtful of you, Traitor,_ she thinks to herself.

* * *

He brought her to some fancy breakfast spot, and she doesn’t quite know if it’s to bribe her to be docile or just to apologize. But she can’t figure one thing out other than that, "Elijah, why didn't you just wake me up this morning to share all of this with me?" She asks him over the Eggs Benedict and he gives her a questioning glance.

"Contrary to popular belief, Caroline- I don't always know where all of you lot stay." Elijah sips some of his tea, looking away from her, seeming miffed, suddenly. _How cute._

Still, bugging her, she continues on, "if you don’t know where I’m staying the why have a driver pick me up from the airport and take me back to your house? She even said he was the Mikaelson’s personal driver.”

"Wait, what?” He sits up even straighter if possible and leans toward her, “what are you going on about?” Caroline sighs and glares at him, finding this while round-about thing annoying.  She relays her story of yesterday and this morning prior to this meeting. He watches her as she tells it and she can tell his brain is working ten times faster than hers normally does. When she finishes, he folds up his napkin, sitting it by his cup and gives her a well-known look. "He knows you're here, then."

He stands and throws a hundred on the table. With a mystified glace thrown around, she grabs her purse and hurries after him. _Does he mean Klaus knows? How would he know?_ They exit the restaurant and walk to the fountain close by where Elijah enjoys a bout of pacing.

She grows bored easily and sit down, watching all the different people cross their path. "Caroline?" Her name aloud startles her out of her trance and she looks up, "I was just wondering- you had Bonnie perform a spell that let go you through his head, yes?" Caroline scrunches her brows together.

“Well, kind of? It was a taken path spell, to be more precise, that allowed me to explore the paths he had chosen and let me see the possibilities of where he would end up because of those decisions.”

 "In the future- well, did you see- I mean to say, was I-"

She smiles as she leans back on the rim of the fountain. "You were with Elena, I think." He rubs his mouth and nods. "But, I don't know for sure- there were about 10 futures we saw in depth, and to be honest, it’s really fuzzy in my head. I don’t remember it like Klaus would. Plus, each of the visions were different and in some, you die with with him and I think in one of them you ended up with Katherine, even.” Caroline shrugs and the sun begins to get brighter so she pulls out her sun glasses. “Everybody’s future is different based on the choice they make, you know? Right now, according to Klaus choices, he will end up dead, without a doubt and I’m simply wanting to change that. I don’t want him to die, especially not alone.”

"While I think of a plan, do you think you could tell me about one?" This was new. She was always so used to straight-lace Elijah. This side- he was curious- she always thought he had all the answers. She leans forward, uncrossing her legs and leaning on them as she picks one out.

"It's a bit fuzzy, not a lot of focus, but the one I recall best is where we are all in England. I lived with Klaus and we loved each other a lot." She rubs her temples trying to grasp at the fading images. "You found out how to replicate the cure and we tricked him into taking it. He was very mad. We would all met up, Stefan and Damon, you and Elena and I, in an alley two blocks from the house to make sure he was well and he was better. You held Elena close to you and Damon always glared at you. Stefan was always running around- helping vampires and hybrids cure themselves. We were all human." She finishes with all she could remember.

He nods at her and then turns to the right of them both, pointing down a side street. “If I remember correctly, there’s a pub that Niklaus loves to frequent, he might be there later tonight, if we're lucky." He holds out his hand and she takes it, helping her stand.

As they walk, she wraps her around his. "You are way different then I thought you would be." He laughs at her comment.

"I'm a Mikaelson- we all have a million different sides." They stop some minutes later in front a bar- or pub, as Elijah called it. "Come here tonight around 11 o'clock." She untangles her arm from his and nods. He grabs his wallet and hands her three hundred. "Shop. Get some clothes that you actually like." She takes the bills and puts them in her own wallet without a fight. When she looks up, he is gone.

* * *

Whose ever house this was- it was well stocked. The kitchen had bottled blood and her room was all tidied up, not that she had much to be tidied up. Al they did was unpack her suit case and make the bed. She finishes another shower, washing the sweat from her body. The moist, sticky heat finally getting too her as she runs some products through her hair. Her blond hair curls around her as she dries it with the hair dryer she found under the sink.

Many thoughts run through her head, but she thinks that this house belongs to Klaus and that he brought her here on purpose. He wants her here and that makes her smile. Though she could wait for her to show up and surprise her, she likes the idea of finding him better. She has given two weeks of her immortal life to find him and she was going to be the one who says “bet’cha missed me” or something along those lines.

She put the dryer down and reapplies her makeup before heading back to her room and unloading the stuff she bought with Elijah’s money. Hopefully she could repay him somehow for all he has given her. In the end, when she looks in the full length mirror, Caroline has her blond hair down, with a laid back look of a simple tee shirt with a sweet quote on it, a black pull over, and jean shorts. She added the beige flats she had worn earlier that day with Elijah to finish it off. She smiles as she grabs her purse off the bed and heads to the door.

As her hand meets the cold metal, she looks over her shoulder at her suitcase. She sits her purse down on the floor and walks over, picking out her white phone. She had to do this right. She turns it on and waits for the messages to stop counting. When they stop they reach 349, her voicemail is filled and her missed calls are 573. She opens her call records and deletes everything before going to her contacts and pressing dial.

"Hello?" She hears his voice on the other end and her whole body fills up with a since of dread.

"Hey." She can’t really think of anything to reply with.

"Caroline?" His voice sounds shaky and she can imagine him standing out of shock, shaking at hearing her voice. She wants to cry.

"Yeah, it's me." She curls up, bringing her legs to her chest.

"Where are you? Tell me and I'll be right there!"

"No, don’t come for me, okay? Just leave me.”

“What?” His voice sounds cold.

“I found him, Tyler. I’m going to meet with him tonight.” She hears something smash on the other end. She presses end. It's still 11:18. She turns the phone back off and throws it into her suitcase. She told him what she needed to, he understood her intentions, there is nothing more she can do. She has to believe that now.

She walks back to the door and picks up her purse, this time walking through it and heading out.

She cuts through some alleys to get back to the bar or pub that Elijah had told her about. She pulls open the door and walks in, taking a stool within eyeshot of the door so she can see if he comes that night, she won’t miss it if he does. The girl that mans the bar seems to be in her early twenties and is human. Caroline calls for her attention and she comes over, motioning to the drink in her hands. "No, I was wondering if you know somebody."

She bounces her head up and down. "I know a lot of people . . ." She's expecting Caroline too speak her name.

"Caroline." She smiles at the bartender who is making this all harder than it needs to be.

"I’m Camille, nice to meet you, Caroline." They shake hands. “Who are you looking for?”

Caroline thinks about it for a second and then replies, “he’s British and scruffy, can have a bit of a temper, calls everyone by pet names, he has really nice hair and a sharp jaw line, his eyes are the most shockingly shade of blue and green you could imagine.” Caroline looks at Camille, “Do you know anyone like that?

Camille give a small smile and continues cleaning the glasses, “You basically described Hayley’s guy to a T. His name is Klaus. Is that who you want?”

Caroline’s smile fades as she realizes what Camille had just said. “Hayley’s guy? What are you talking about?"

Camille laughs, not catching on to Caroline’s deteriorating mood. "Klaus and Hayley. They always come in here and she orders some food and they argue and then she stomps out. He pays and goes after her." Caroline absorbs this as Camille suddenly has an epiphany.

"Caroline." She lifts head as if to answer her, "Wait, you’re Caroline." She looks sideways as if the ghost in the stool next to her has an answer, then back at Camille, giving the barkeep a _'so what'_ expression. Camille doesn't get the chance to finish as a guy starts talking to Caroline. He is dark in skin and has a trickster smile.

"Hello, gorgeous." He flashes a smile her way that is white and dangerous. "I'm Marcel."

She nods at him, "I'm Caroline." He takes her hand from her cup lays a gentle kiss on the top.

"So I heard." He smiles at Camille and takes the spot next to her. She smiles awkwardly back and takes back her hand. "Tell you what, Caroline. How about you and I go back to my place- party is in full swing. We can have some serious fun." He leans in really close to her and she doesn't know which form of get lost to use. His fingers trail her arm and she pulls away. "You and me, a dance or two. No harm, no foul. Come on, sweethe-" Caroline rolls her eyes and takes his arm from trying and groping her and bends him back so fast that no one sees her doing it. She slams his body down on the counter and holds him there, making her drink rattle and fall.

“Ugh, now you’ve spilt my drink and burned of the last of my good mood.” She says to him through clenched teeth. He is hard to hold in place and she now understands that he isn’t human and from the way he is fighting her grip- he is stronger than her.

He breaks her hold and catches her by the neck, throwing her down on the counter next. She claws at his hand, staring at the ceiling. Though he isn’t cutting off her oxygen supply, it does hurt to have your windpipe slowly crushed. “How about my mood, Caroline? Do you think you want to piss me off?” He grips tighter and she start pound on his arm. She shuts her eyes to regain her control and in that second the pressure is gone. She opens her eyes and her feet are on the ground and she string at a pair of broad shoulders.

"How about you go find another blonde to control, mate." It's a blend of a Scottish lilt and a British front. "Hello, love. Hear you've been looking for me." He speaks to her, not looking at her but at Marcel.  He wipes blood off his lip and looks from her to him.

“You know her?” He asks Klaus.

“You know who she is, don’t play stupid.” Marcel laughs and smiles, giving Caroline chills. He passes by them and exits the bars.

Klaus puts some money on the bar and nods to Camille, before turning and looking at her. She takes him in entirely, looking him up and down. She doesn't know why but she launches herself at him. Full on. Her arms wrap themselves tightly around his neck and her feet barely touch the floor. She feels his hands cautiously wrap around her waist as he accepts the hug. "I can't believe I found you!" She pulls back, her feet hitting the floor again and his face is twisted with shock though he snaps back with rapid pace, giving her his signature smirk.

"Technically, love, I found you." He looks her up and down, making sure this was truly happening. "And if I had known you were this excited to see me, I would have come home sooner." He steps back from her, letting her hands fall to back to her side. Klaus’s hand radiates warmth as it finds its place on the small of her back and leads her to the back corner. "So, if I'm not mistaken, you've spent the better part of two weeks looking for me?" He questions as they sit down. "If I didn't know any better, Caroline, I'd think you’ve fallen for me." He smirks at her and she has to bite back a smile.

She decides to tease him a little. "Actually, I wanted to know if you learned your lesson." She responds as she bites into the fries that Camille sits in front of them and gives a scotch to Klaus and a coke to Caroline. "Is this what Hayley orders?" She asks with a bite, but Klaus only laughs.

"Camille told you, huh? And no, Caroline- Hayley usually gets buffalo wings and a diet Dr. Pepper." She thinks it's funny to hear him say Buffalo wings. "On your other question- it was real then? The whole dream thing?" Taking a drink of her coke, she nods her head. "Well, that's just fantastic."

She sits down her drink and looks at him, head-on. "I showed you all that to save a bunch of lives, but I would be lying if I said," she takes a breath and he watches her dutifully, "if I said that I felt nothing for you and that there aren't any feelings," She coughs against the words, "feelings that haven't grown by some margin," she laughs nervously, "and please cut in at any time."

He leans across the table, his hazel eyes boring into her shiny, blue ones. "The reason Hayley is here is because she is pregnant with my kid." He watches her closely and then adds on, "please, don't make a scene and feel free to ask my brother your questions- I barely understand any of it." He stays hunched over across the table, watching Caroline process that the man she might love had sex with the werewolf who loves her ex.

"I broke up with Tyler to come here and find you and tell you how I felt and this is how you respond…" She still looks shocked and now it's his turn. "I hate Hayley." She whispers under her breath.

"Feeling is mutual love." She looks up at him and can't help but smile. "So, is there still a chance that your feelings have stayed and are growing?"

Caroline laughs a dead laugh and stands, "I have to go meet your brother now."

She walks out of the bar and continues down the path of concrete. Reaching into her purse, Caroline pulls out the silver phone and presses down #2. "I found him." The sigh is audible from the other line.

"What's going on now?" He asks.

"Well, Hayley is pregnant and he is following me, I think. Where are you staying?" Before a reply can be had, her phone is tossed from her being and once more she is grabbed by the neck. “This is not a natural habit!” She pushes back against him with her legs, using all she’s got and he drops her down. She gets a clear image of him in that moment, "Damn, Marcel!" She kicks him hard in the side and sends him through the wall separating two alleys.

"Didn't think you were a vampire." He coughs out and then lunges for her- she ducks him and moves away quickly. Caroline kicks out, breaking a wooden rack and then stabs him through the liver. He falls and groans in pain. With a triumphant smirk, Caroline walks out of the alley, towards the other side of the wall and looks for her phone only to find it shattered. "Great." She murmurs under her breath.

* * *

 

She wakes up the next morning, foggy in her brain and a knocking on her door. She grabs around until she feels something like a shoe and chucks it at the door. Hard. She hears the wood splinter as the shoe falls to the ground. A laugh sounds out from the other side. "Go away." Caroline grumbles and pushes herself further into the fluffy white pillow. She wraps her arms around it and tries to recapture the blissful oblivion she was floating in just second before.

Unfortunately, the morning doesn't want her to sleep and her door opens. At her fastest, she leaps from her bed, hooking an arm around her intruder’s neck, and squeezing her legs around his waist. "I said go _away._ " The sleepy blonde hisses at her opponent. He easily over powers her and using her crossed legs to his advantage, slams Caroline against the nearest wall. She lets go from the shock of impact and he braces one hand to the right of her head and the other on her left side. She was lucky she was wearing night clothes. She finally looks the intruder in the eyes and she sees playfulness and lust.

"Caroline, Love." He teases, "Good to see you're up." He presses her further into the wall. She just pushes him away and walks back to her bed, adjusting her shirt. He follows and sits down, crossing his legs in the manly style as Caroline sits criss-crossed with reservation toward Klaus.

She didn't know what she was doing anymore and this was so far out of her character that she didn't want to even try to understand. "I need you to come with me." He tells her, the playfulness gone and the seriousness set in.

She stares him, done, not wanting to leave her bed again, but she does, she has to.

She gets up and grabs some clothes from the armoire.

"Where are you going?" he asks her from his perch on her bed.

"I need a shower." She says in a 'duh' tone.

"Care if I join?" She turns to look over her shoulder to see him laughing at himself, of course he is. She didn't dignify it with a response, just walks out of the room. When she found him, she thought he’d gracefully accept her heartfelt confession and they would share a steamy, passionate night together where she would wake up to see him looking down at her and she would fall in love all over again, not her confess and he tell her that he somehow knocked up a werewolf who is always out to steal her men!

She slams the bathroom door shut as she enters.

* * *

 

“Why are you doing this?” She grumbles as she drinks a mix of blood and coffee that is absolutely disgusting but she is _hungry_ and tired, so sacrifices have to be made. He sighs in aggravation to himself and reaches back to grab her hand- pulling Caroline forward to meet his steps, not letting go of her hand at all. She tries to pull it out and he just holds tighter. “You know, you’re cutting off my circulation.”

He cocks his eyebrow at her, knowing full well her blood stopped pumping a while back.

 "Just be quiet." He reprimands her, "I know this town and its people. I basically made it before my father found us." His hand, still in hers, pulls her in front of him, letting go only to place it on the small of her back as he opens the door to the same bar from last night- except this time they go to the back and up the stairs, down a hall, and into a strange room with vampires and werewolves and from the spice smell of the other girls, witches.

Among the vampires was Elijah who looked like he better things to do than to be in present company, though Caroline smiled when she saw him. Hayley was amongst the werewolves and her stomach was looking heavy. At seeing that, Caroline moved away from Klaus but stayed close enough show to Hayley that she would get no more of Klaus. "Everybody, this is Caroline. She is new here and under my guard. Touch her and you die." He ordered them as if he was telling the everyday forecast.

Hayley levels a glare at Caroline and the blonde didn't hesitate to give her a false smile back.

* * *

Caroline slams the door open to Klaus’s place, ready to spit fire, with Klaus hot on her heels. "I will rip her larynx out if she ever speaks like that to me again!"

"No you won't, Love.”

"I'll pour of pot of molten gold on her head!"

"You watch Game of Thrones?"

"I will take her, push her against a wall, and let her look me in the eyes as I strangle the life out of her!" She breathes heavily as she slams her hands down on the counter, making a crack appear.

"Caroline!" He yells across the room.

She takes a breath and spins on the toe of her shoe, splaying her hands out to her sides and an incredulous expression on her face. "What?" She snipes at him.

He looks her over, walking slowly across the room. She doesn't back away, not even when he is close enough for her to feel the heat radiating off his skin. He stands barely inches from and neither of them moved. “I’m pissed.” She tells him and he nods, letting one of his hand gently touch her waist.

She doesn't unlock her jaw and she doesn't breathe out as he pulls her close. She doesn't let her gaze break as he looks at her with _his_ look. She doesn't respond when he is so close that their air is mixing and swirling.

“I know.” He says with a calm she can’t even begin to understand as he leans forward and kiss her, lighting her on fire in a whole different way.

 


End file.
